October 1, 2025 • 47 mins
Denise Rose, Chair of the Yolo Board of Directors, and Liz Stelow, Co-Chair of the Outreach committee of Thriving Pink, are super inspiring professional women who share aspects of their own personal journeys with cancer. In this very informative overview they describe many resources and programs offered through Thriving Pink, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to supporting those affected by breast cancer. Their collective experiences shed light on best practices for early diagnosis, treatment and more.
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It's Your Voice is broadcast live Wednesdays at 8PM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). It's Your Voice is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
It's Your Voice Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
LOCHI, Let's speech Chick, Let's speak show in lot, Let's
breech in lot, Let's breach all the ill logic, that's
(00:47):
brich and logic.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Let's all a lot. Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice,
the show that hosts enriching conversations in diversity. My name
is Bihia Yaxon. I am a core alignment coach and
a diversity educator. If you're interested in seeing some programs
(01:11):
and trainings I offer, you can check them out at
my website, which is Know what you Want Coaching dot
WordPress dot com. I'm so excited that we are going
to talk about the national Breast Cancer Awareness Month today
October first, and I'm very grateful. We have two guests.
Possibly we might have a third guest who shows up,
(01:33):
and they have a lot to share and some really
really good information that you might also want to share.
I'm going to read their bios and then they'll be
joining me. So we're going to start with Denise Rose.
She's an almost ten year breast cancer thriver in the
chair of the local Board of Directors for Thriving Pink.
(01:54):
She feels it's a great honor to work with and
support the board and serving the mission of Thriving Pink.
Denise is also an ICF certified life coach in private
practice and works as a mental health coach for Modern Health.
Prior to coaching, she worked at Yolo Cares, which is
at Yolo Hospice for nearly two decades as a breement
(02:14):
counselor and in management and organizational leadership. Wow. Thank you, Denise.
And our other guest is Liz Stalo and I hope
I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
And Liz is the co chair of the Outreach Committee
for Thriving Pink. She had a twenty nineteen breast cancer diagnosis.
(02:35):
She is a veterinarian with a specialty in behavior and
teaches at UC Davis Vet School. Thank you, Liz, I
appreciate both of you being here. Let's start our conversation,
and again, I'm just really honored to have you both.
I am deeply moved by what I've learned through Thriving
Pink at our local place, and I love learning more.
(02:59):
We thought we start with Denise too. Could you give
us like an overview of Thriving Pink.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Sure, And first of all, thank you so much for
he for reaching out to us and thinking of this,
because this is a big month for those with breast cancer.
So yeah, happy, lots of information to share. Dragging Pink
is a wonderful nonprofit. I call it a small but
mighty nonprofit. We are here to serve breast cancer survivors
(03:27):
from the time of diagnosis through survivorship, so through the
whole journey, and we have programs that are there to
support them at any point in that journey. We are
heavily volunteer powered. We do have an executive director and
a part time support person, but we do a lot
(03:49):
of work and we rely on the great skills and
talents of a diverse team of volunteers. Dreading Pink has
been around since twenty sixty and we have an office
in downtown Davis. We do we have so many wonderful programs.
I think before I share you a little share a
(04:10):
little bit about that, I want to kind of give
honor and gratitude toward our founder, Mary Lou. That's two words,
Mary and Lou l i U. Mary Lou had a
vision after a dear friend of hers, anne, Mary Page,
who had been a champion, a breast cancer survivor and
(04:30):
champion of others, after she died, Mary Lou wanted to
continue on the story and legacy a van Mary Page,
and soon after that began Thripening Pink. So it really
is to the the effort, the generosity, the vision of
Mary Lou, who then brought in Leslie Hunter, our executive director,
(04:54):
to really just grow the organization and the two worked
beautifully to bring it to what it is now and
with the contribution of so many talented people over the
past almost decade, it is an amazing organization and strong,
beautiful garden that I like to refer to. We plant
good seats here. So just a little bit about would
(05:19):
you like me to go through the different programs we
have at this point or what would be.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Can we live?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Why would be?
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Okay? So we have, Like I said, we have a
number of programs, and first off, a couple of things.
You know, what are we all about? What's our mission?
We are here to support anyone in Yolo County and
we support people around us as well in the surrounding counties,
but Yolo County who have been impacted by breast cancer.
We provide programs and services in partnership with the community,
(05:52):
and so our vision is that no one will go
through breast cancer alone, and that's so important to do that.
We have a whole array of amazing services. So I
have my list because try and keep them all straight.
One of the first things that I want to share
is about our financial grants that we offer to Yellow
(06:13):
County residents and those treated in Yolo County. Over the
past eight years, Thriving Pink has given out over three
hundred thousand dollars to individuals to support them. In this
past year, we gave out fifty four, four hundred and
forty dollars to twenty nine recipients. So this is important
(06:34):
because not only is there a physical toll to cancer,
there is an emotional toll. There is all different levels
of impact on individuals. And the financial impact can be
great for individuals loss of time at work, medical copays,
maybe need for childcare if you've got young ones, transportation needs,
(06:57):
rent support if you're not getting a paycheck. So there's
a lot of financial impact and so our financial resources
that we get out is really important. We have other
really important support, as I said, from diagnosis through survivorship.
We have peer mentoring and that is done by trained
peer mentors that are paired up with newly diagnosed individuals.
(07:19):
We have bi monthly Zoom educational workshops that address medical
as well and well being type topics by experts in
the field. We have a wonderful Prosperosa program for the
Latina speakers in our community Spanish speakers excuse me in
our community, and we have a number of programs, gatherings, walks,
(07:42):
cafecitos that really reach out to that community and support them.
We do have monthly walks in local parks in Davis
to get people out in nature, enjoy movement and build
connection and socialization. We have an annual Renewal retreat, which
I justilitated this past weekend and it really is a
(08:03):
beautiful weekend, two days of really focusing in on self care,
tending to your mind, body, spirit and emotions as you heal.
We have Thriver's Circles, and those circles are like support groups,
so we have three different ones. Currently, we have an
active one for those who are actively in treatment, those
(08:24):
who are just completed treatment, maybe not even just complete it,
it could be some time out from treatment, but your
post treatment basically. And then we have one for those
who are living with metastatic disease, and soon we'll be
adding in a Thrivers Circle for our Spanish speaking population.
We have different in person workshops and activities such as
(08:45):
sound baths, mindfulness meditation, yoga, expressive arts, healing arts, opportunities
for teams to gather and to become active, to make
community items or items to distribute to the king needed
like bracelets, and so it may be teams who have
a parent, mother going through treatment, or may know someone
(09:08):
or just want to be active in helping. So that's
kind of it in a nutshell of our programs again,
a diverse assortment so that people can find some way
some that they want to join in. We also have
just two other things, and Liz will go into since
she covers the outreach, the wonderful outreach and education that
we do. But we also have at our community room
(09:32):
or office in downtown Davis a wonderful space for people
to gather for our in person support services. We have
a beautiful lending library, many many books in our library.
We have a whole assortment of no constantly used clothes, garments,
bras wigs, and we often set up once to one
(09:52):
to two times a year like a boutique for people
to come in. But we do have these if someone
wanted to contact us and find out more so, I
think that I've been talking a long time now.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well before we pass it over to Liz, I just
have to say, it's unbelievable how much Thriving Pink has offered.
That's an incredibly impressive array of services and objects that
people might need, and grants and partnerships and mentoring. It's
(10:24):
just phenomenal. I can't believe it's only nine years old.
It's incredible. I know I.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Agree that the work many people have been involved and
growing it to this point and a lot of talent
and big hearts involved.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
So yes, thank you, so impressive. Thank you, Liz. Tell
us about the outreach and what else is on your mind.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Of course, So from an outreach perspective, one of the
things I like to highlight about Thriving Pink builds on
something Denise said. We want to support anyone who's had
the impact of a diagnos of breast cancer. That means friends, family,
and others who can be invisible in some ways in
(11:09):
the impact that they experience by a diagnosis, and they
all have opportunities to take part in the things that
Thriving Pink offers. And so I like to think of
us as a community, and communities have that core group
(11:31):
of the people who are most immediately affected, but it
goes beyond that into friends and family, and then it
goes further beyond that into our overall and that's where
outreach comes in. So outreach for us is about making
sure that the Davis Winter's Woodland West Sacramento, Yolo County
(11:54):
understands what opportunities are going on in their neighborhood and
in there happening ways that they can take part in
supporting thrivers ways that they can get more information. Some
of the information we provide are to help people get
early diagnoses and maybe even some preventative measures for the
(12:20):
very young among us. So what health fares will we
be at and what tabling events can you come and
have conversations with us? And where will we be presenting
at community organizations? The latest information that we have. The
(12:42):
science keeps changing, and we like to think we can
at least direct people to the folks who have the
latest data. And part of that bi monthly webinar that
we do is the latest information who've just come from
the national conferences, who can say, guess what, here's what
(13:05):
we're finding out we can add to this type of treatment.
And that's all really exciting, and we get excited about
being able to bring that to the people who want
or need that information. The nature of breast cancer treatment
has changed so so much. So many of us are
(13:25):
around to tell our stories because the treatments are so impressive,
and that's what the outreach piece of it is all about.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Wow, that's so inspiring and encouraging. And again I have
to just say how impressed I am. But twice a
month of webinars that make sure that the latest scientific
information about whether it's treatment or diagnoses, you make available
twice a month.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
We have connections with some pretty amazing and experts the
other half, so that's half of our webinars. The other
half focus on holistic care, so on things like meditation
or other types of body healing, because the you know,
(14:18):
some of us have had our breasts try to kill us,
but the rest of our body was affected as well,
and so those talks are of a different nature what
other parts of your body need assistance right now. And
they are also for people who've just been diagnosed, or
(14:39):
have gone through treatment, or are ten years out from treatment,
who are still being affected by the changes that treatment left.
So I get super excited to see what new talks
we're going to have that treat the rest of the body.
I like hearing about the latest and greatest about breast
(15:01):
cancer treatment, but I also want to know how to
take care of the other types of health that make
life worth living, because we didn't thrive except to have
a life that's worth living.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
I'd love to add in a little bit to what
Liz just said about the bi monthly online workshops. There's
a really add it special part to it. When it's
the presentation is over, there is a support period. It's
probably usually depending on the length of the Q and A,
it might be like thirty minutes where those where the
(15:38):
attendees can check in and just share how they're doing.
And it's just lovely. It's really lovely. It's facilitated by
our executive director and she does a beautiful job with it,
and it's kind of a place just like you're sitting
in the living room just checking in how you do
and how's it been, how did your radiation treatment go?
I know you were starting that last time we met.
(15:59):
You know, how's your medication? You know, and everyone's checking
in with each other. So it is really a lovely
at its support kind of to two gifts of information
and support in that one and a half hours twice
a month.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
And it builds that feeling of community that we're striving
so hard to build when is in this alone.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I was just going to say that that community
and the connections. Yeah, they talk about healing. I mean
that's it keeps you wanting to stay alive. The more
connected are, where you feel in community and surrounded by community.
It's just a beautiful like service, but not like a
(16:45):
service for others, but just a service for humanity to
create opportunities to connect and help each other feel how
much we belong.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Right, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's scary. It's so scary to
get a diagnose as it absolutely is. Your world gets
flipped around completely. You know, you're you're thrown in to
a situation where you're having to make absolutely rapid fire decisions.
It's you know, just flips your life around and then
(17:17):
you're going through the treatments and whatever. Everyone every I
think it's important for people to understand breast cancer looks
different from person to person. There's no just one side
this is breast cancer. There's different types of breast cancers,
there's different types of treatments that people will go through.
So it's we always say, don't compare your breast cancer
stories with each other. There may be some that line
(17:38):
up and are kind of similar, but all in all,
when you're in conversation, it can be a very different thing.
It can be something where we want to talk, we
want to compare because we want to find someone to help,
you know, to bond with. And that's something to be
mindful of because we can also start going into doubt
and questioning of ourselves of you know, why am I
(18:03):
not doing that? Well, maybe a very valid and important
reason why you're not having that medication or that treatment now.
So we always like to direct people back to their
care providers if they if they have questions or concerns
about what's going on for them. But we do live,
and I think, Liz, you you make this point, we
(18:23):
were living in a good time to have breast cancer,
you know, if you can, and you know, it's unfortunate
that this disease still exists, But there's a lot of
good news because there are better treatments. We are successful
with earlier detection now better outcomes of treatments. If you
have an early detection, there's a ninety nine percent five
(18:47):
year survival rate. That's excellent. We know there are some
things it can be scary, but it's also an opportunity
for empowerment. So ten percent of breast cancers are hereditary
due to hereditary factors. Ninety percent are due to factors
beyond that, so a whole host of what if or
(19:09):
you know, environmental factors, different things. So what that says, well,
that can feel scary, but it can also mean that
what we need to do is get to work on
controlling what we can control, and you know, exercising, exercising
agency over our bodies and our lives, taking care to
(19:30):
get daily movement, trying to work to reduce stress when
you you know, stress is a normal part of life,
but where can we reduce some of it? How can
we change our relationship to the stress? Eating well, How
can we up our gain in terms of how we're eating,
the quality of foods we're eating. How can we ensure
we're getting rest and good sleep. How can we make
(19:53):
sure that we're taking time to relax. We live in
a very busy world these days. Can we relax and
enjoy life a little bit more? How can we tune
into what brings us peace? Trying to get ourselves a
little more centered. So that's you know, there's a lot
that we can do and to feel empowered about that
(20:13):
is so important because when we look at stories of
people who teach about wellness and people who have been
through their own disease journeys, there's often four components that
are looked at. And this is what I cover a
lot in the Renewal Retreat, is that we want to
look at ourselves physically, that dimension of ourselves mentally, emotionally,
(20:36):
and spiritually, and that can be a template of framework
in which to use as you go through the journey
to take care of ourselves, to check in with those
things the heart. Is it okay that I share one
more thing? If a few statistics I wanted to share.
This is an important conversation we're having, really important, and
(20:58):
numbers will help us understand why. So one in eight
women and one in eight hundred and thirty men, so
men get breast cancer as well, they have breast tissue.
One in eight women one in eight hundred and thirty
men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
That pretty much guarantees that everyone's going to know someone
who's been diagnosed with breast cancer. Bringing it home to
(21:21):
us in Yolo County. An even more significant statistic, and
that is that Yolo County ranks fifth in California with
the highest age adjusted breast cancer incidence rate. And from
what I've information I have, it's first in late stage
cancer incidents. That's you know, that's kind of unsettling.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So can you and I can't any more than that,
but I just the age age adjusted. Did you say that?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
And the last statistic, Yeah, Liz, maybe you can help
me with that part because I was that was it
was a statistic I was I had pulled up, but
it didn't have an explanation for that.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
So yeah, I'm not familiar with the research on that.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, so I don't know exactly what if it's looking
at the population that you would expect to have, and
I'm not sure about that part of it. So I
research on that, but that is, that's an important number
to look at for us, not to be driven by fear,
but again to be driven by action and empowerment so
(22:32):
that we can do things like get our screenings of
regular physicals, get access to healthcare, and that's a battle
for so many people. You know, not dismissing any signs,
any unusual things that you're seeing in your skin, or
any lumps or any texture changes, so taking action, being alert,
(22:57):
having surveillance is regular over your body.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
And also knowing your body, because you don't notice changes
unless you know what's normal. And I think in general,
we take our bodies so much for granted. They're the
things that get done, the things that need to get
done right, that's how we use them. And I think
(23:23):
people overlook the necessity to get to know what's absolutely
normal for them. Some people are really good at that,
and some people are just too busy. If you can't say, oh,
this is really strange, this just started, I don't like
the look of it. I should get it checked out.
(23:44):
Then you may not be one of the people who
gets an early diagnosis.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Oh that's such a great point and so well said.
You know, I want to just repeat some of the
things you just said that, like it's important to know
our bodies and therefore recognize when something's different or something's changed.
And I also appreciate how you said we just we
use our bodies in this kind of busy mainstream society
(24:12):
or constantly. Now I got to do this da da
da da, instead like as an instrument, as a tool,
rather than like something to enjoy and appreciate and relax.
I want to ask you, I want to come back
to you in the minute was about some other things
you said, But that reminds me that something you that
you might want to talk about, Denise, speaking of bodies
(24:33):
and recognizing things. You mentioned how a dimple saved your life.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Yeah, yeah, I like to look at it. Y. Yeah, absolutely,
I was thinking this would be a good time to
share that. So in twenty sixteen, I was diagnosed with
lobular breast cancer. And lobular is a type of invasive
breast cancer that originates in the lobules, which are the
milk producing glands in the rest. And it's the second
(25:02):
most common type of investive invasive breast cancer and accounts
for about ten to fifteen percent of cases. So it
kind of grows, the cells grow like in single single
lines and kind of infiltrate so they don't show up
as a lump. So anyway back to it was at
(25:24):
the very end of twenty fifteen and I had noticed
after showering and it happened to just catch an angle
in the mirror or a view in the mirror, a
dimpling in my right breast, and I was like, I
don't remember seeing that before. So I kind of watched
it for a week and then I think I'm going
to check in with my doctor. So I went in
(25:46):
and she did a manual exam and didn't feel anything,
but she ordered a three D mammogram for me. I
had just had a mammogram six months before so she
ordered three D mammogram and that happened to them shortly.
I think after that, I went and had an ultrasound
and it was during the ultrasound that they found a
(26:08):
slight finding. And then I came back and they did
a biopsy and that's when it was confirmed, and then
an MRI. So it was it was really yeah, absolutely shocking,
And you know, I want to tell people this, it's
so important because I had had one and I knew nothing.
(26:30):
You know, until you get breast cancer, or unless you
know someone who's had it, you don't even know this
world of all the different types of breast cancers and
all the factors and such. So my take home and
my plea to everyone, there is such good effort and
education to get everyone to do their manual exams a
lot of times, and a lot of materials using your
(26:52):
eyes as never mentioned in terms of noticing skin changes.
Some materials will say that, but a lot of it's
you know, feel your do your exam monthly, So please
use your eyes in addition to your hands to do
your monthly surveillance. Sometimes women have heard women talk about
they notice the symptom they notice is like drainage from
(27:13):
the nipple. There could be discoloration of the skin, dimpling
of the skin, So things like that, those are signs
that should be checked out. Don't dismiss it. It's better
to get it checked out and have it be no
no problem at all. It's minor than dismissing it. And
it continues to grow, and you've lost some time in
being able to get that treatment. As Liz said, on
(27:34):
the early side.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So important. I hope everyone can hear this what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I'd like to second that because my breast cancer origin
story sounds remarkably similar. In twenty nineteen, I had had
a mammogram six months before all clear, and I noticed
dimpling too and said, well, that wasn't there. And I
doctor and he said, I'm sending you for an ultrasound.
(28:04):
And mine was invasive ductal carcinoma. So mine did form
a mass effect, but it hadn't been seen on the
mammogram and it was almost certainly there during the mammogram,
but an ultrasound found it, they did a biopsy confirmed it,
and I was on my way. But the exact same
thing that it didn't used to look like that. That's
(28:25):
weird and the next thing I know, I'm scheduling surgery.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Wow, thank god you both followed your instinct. Yes, you're gout,
you're gut because it is so easy for us to
dismiss things because because we're scared, because we don't want
to handle it, because we can't think of a who
do I say this too, because it's like, oh, I
don't want to bother anybody or make appointments, or thank
god you both did that and that you're modeling it.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Trust me. I didn't want to know, but pragmatically knowing
is better than not knowing. So but I didn't want
to know. This wasn't a journey I was interested in taking.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
It's not a club you want to join, not a club.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
You want to join, but it's a big one.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It's a lot, it's a big lots of good support
if you do, you know, if it is such that
you do join the club, and especially around here and
no matter where you live. I don't know how far
this broadcast goes out where it's it's podcasts that's probably
heard all over. Look at your local resources. There are
also national organizations like Breast cancer dot org. If you
(29:30):
don't have anything in your community, that has support groups
and all kinds of amazing information. So again back to
if you get this this is death that you know,
it used to be that, Oh my god, breast cancer
is a death sentence. It's not that way anymore. Even
if someone is diagnosed with late stage, the immunotherapy treatments
(29:52):
that are being done are remarkable. It's amazing people are
living longer with metastatic disease and having quality of life.
So it's you know, we're actually, you know, we're in
a good time to be to have this, and there's
lots of support out there.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Ye, so encouraging. I want to go back to, yeah,
something you when you refer to every other week with
Thriving Pink webinars that are about healing. I don't know
if you called it holistic healing, I think because I'm
sure all three of us can remember when that was
(30:32):
considered like just ignored, like holistic or things to like
relax and relieve or trust your instincts. And despite the
fact that there was you know, centuries of evidence how
much it helped human beings when they paid attention to
their body, tuned in, stepped out in nature. But I
(30:53):
wanted to see if you wanted to say more about
holistic healing and not only like how powerful it is,
but maybe some examples so that people can imagine or
picture how that might work. What kind of modules there are.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Yeah, So I sort of find it in two different categories.
One is the mental part, so taking care of the
emotions and the brains, so the imagery around what you're
going through. So that's stress reduction, whether that's yoga or
(31:36):
sound healing or any number of other things. Practitioners come
on and talk about the kind of work that they do,
lead us through an exercise, perhaps show us where other
resources exist to carry on with those ourselves. Those can
be so impactful for people who have found themselves even
(32:01):
periodically in a terribly stressful place or a terribly dark place.
Are communities there for them, but sometimes they need to
take care of themselves too, And so some of those
exercises if you can calm yourself enough to do them
in the moment. So during those times, we highly recommend
(32:24):
close the door, block everything out, take this hour for you,
whether the world around you wants you to or not,
you deserve it. And then once you get a taste
of it, can you devote a practice to this or
can you go see a practitioner that engages in this
kind of therapy if it's something that resonates with you,
(32:47):
And that's really the key, right it has to resonate
with you for you to want to do it. It
has to fill a knee you feel you have. And
I have found those to be fascinating. Only a couple
of them really resonated with me, but I found them
all to be fascinating. I continue to the other piece
of it is what are there elements what other physical
(33:10):
elements of your body get affected by the surgery you had? So,
do you have lymphedema because the lymph nodes that were
removed left you predisposed to poor lymphatic draining. Are you
on medications that put you through the worst kind of menopause?
And do you have reproductive health issues that come from that?
(33:34):
Most menopausal women, turns out, have reproductive and sexual health issues.
So we've had people come in and talk to us
about the regions of your body that tend to deteriorate
without estrogen and what you can do about those areas
of your body to live a fuller life. What about
(33:57):
aches and pains that come from I mean wounds, what about?
What about? What about? So some of them are directed
toward the mental and emotional health, and some are directed
towards those other body parts that also you never dreamed
were associated with breast cancer, because breast cancer is about
(34:18):
taking something out of your breast, right. Oh, but that's
so not all. Thank you. Those have been really very interesting.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Sounds like an incredibly, incredibly important part of educating ourselves
and we're just the power of knowledge. You can deal
with it exactly.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
And the also you know, just taking on too that
with what Liz said, just telling you know, some of
the workshops, the wellness part of it is focused on emotions.
There are so many emotions that are so powerful. The fear,
fear of recurrence, the uncertainty that is there, the you know,
(35:03):
the unknowns, anxiety, depression, there's you know, some for some people,
maybe shame. You know, everyone's going to have a different
constellation of emotions they're dealing with, and just to understand
they're all normal, they're all to be expected, and if
they are impacting you so much that they're impacting the
(35:23):
functioning and your functioning in your daily life, then it's
important to really bring that up. To your care provider,
to your oncologist, your care team. There might be medications
that you might try to see if that helps. And
there's no shame in using medication to get through a
really difficult time with anxiety and depression or sleeplessness, and
(35:46):
in the worries you know only you, only the individual
knows what they're going through in their minds, and to
get in touch with that and to reach out for
help is really important when it's necessary.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Thank you and Denise. I wanted you to say more
about the retreat because when Liz is talking about different
options and ways and finding modality that like resonates, whether
it's meditation or yoga or something else, I know your
retreat sounds really incredible. I had the opportunity to hear
(36:20):
you describe it's no ordinary retreat. I feel like what
you lead is helps people love themselves more like that
the aspect of like, oh, I have to really love
myself to find the kind of things that Liz is describing,
see what resonates for me. I have to care enough
about myself. It's one thing to have no that's an option,
(36:43):
it's another thing to say I deserve it. I want
to I'm going to make time. I'm going to do it.
So can you share something about how you cultivate that
when you when you have such situation like the retreats
you lead.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Yeah, yeah, thank you, great question. I think that you know,
first off, like you said, it just to acknowledge. With
the women who choose to participate in the treatment, it's
a small group. It's usually eight to ten individuals that
come together for the two days. It takes a lot
of courage to even sign up to do something like that.
A lot of people, you know, we'll reach out and say, hey,
(37:16):
we're going to have our retreat now, I'm good, I'm
really good. It's in the rearview mirror. Don't want it.
That's okay, No, that is totally okay. But there were
you know, some individuals find they need to come into
a place, in a space that really fosters this. And
so what we try and do and I think we
do well with this retreat. We think we thought everything
(37:37):
through very very carefully. This is a lot of many
different elements of building connection with other thrivers. A lot
of times people don't know each other, or maybe they
know one other person, so a lot of time to
you know, socialize sharing meals together morning. The first day
they have a little light breakfast together and lunch and dinner.
(37:59):
And the second day it's a light breakfast and then lunch.
So you have that that kind of socializing that way informally.
And then we go into sessions that I read we
have four different focuses, two sessions each day, and as
I mentioned before, the first one I focus on the
physical nature of our being and what does that look
(38:21):
like for each person and we talk about that. They
have journals and they have some sheets that they work
on about getting in touch with their physical selves and
what their needs are around that. And then the afternoon
we focus in on this spiritual dimension. So we look
at you know, what what does this mean for me?
Is this? Is there more that I need to do?
(38:43):
Is there? You know? How is it? It's like a
little assessment and there's information that's given to help kind
of fill this context in. After that session, they go
into a lovely, lovely portion three hour portion of the
afternoon that we call the spa session spas and so
they are treated to mini facials and foot massages, foot
(39:05):
and calf massages, and they have special robes and they're pampered,
and they have time too. There's a collaging activity that
they do that came from came out of the spiritual segment.
So they're collaging reflecting on their life and what's important
for them, and they have time to just rest. If
(39:26):
they want to take a nap, they can. Some people
are just exhausted and just to have a nap on
a Saturday, it's a lovely treat. They can a few
other little activities they can do quite a time basically,
and people really savor that because it's again we're in
a busy world. Sometimes we just don't give this to ourselves,
so we give it to them. And so that's the Saturday,
(39:49):
and we end with our dinner and then sharing of
our collages. And then Sunday we have the two sessions
and that focuses on the mental aspect of ourselves and
the emotional aspect. So we do again different activities related
to that, little meditations before we start each of those sections.
So it's like tool like a toolbox is given to
(40:11):
each person. And as was said before, it really is
about them figuring out what resonates for them. You know,
different things are going to speak to different people in
different ways, and so it really is that opportunity and
so you know, and it's not just like you have
to come to the retreat. This retreat is to get this.
There are different ways. Pieces of this are definitely given
(40:33):
in the different workshops we offer. So it's for some
people a retreat isn't isn't their jam, you know, and
that's okay. They would rather go to online things. So
again in our program, I mean, we really try and
have a diverse assortment of ways for people to connect.
Some people love you know, I just want to be
(40:54):
out walking. I want to be moving. I want to
connect via nature with other people. So our walks are
right for that. So I guess something, yeah, something, you
know something for everyone.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Well, thank you for walking us through that, and yeah,
that's wonderful to be pampered. Certainly can create a feeling
of like, wow, I didn't know such a relief and
relaxation where possible.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Yeah, absolutely, And in the beauty of sharing meals together
with people, you know, where you get into the level
of conversations just getting to learn about each other's lives
and and you get to rise above you know, you
have the commonality that everyone around this table has or
had breast cancer. But you're now moving to a level of,
(41:43):
you know, really integrating, interrelating with people and building a
really good bond based on that commonality. It's really beautiful,
beautiful to see.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
That's so important to have pure support, yeah, in a
way that no one else can provide despite how much
they try, went too, and I love that you also
mentioned that that's all an incredible opportunity if someone gets
to do something like a retreat, but it's available in
other ways, in the examples that Liz was describing, it
(42:14):
can get pieces and parts of it, whether it's joining
walks or going to catching it one of the zooms
or every other zoom or And I just want to
give the contact email right now. I know you mentioned
Leslie Hunter as the executive director. She's so approachable, she's
so supportive and so informative. And her email to contact
(42:37):
her is info at Thrivingpink dot org. And I'll just
say that again for people who are listening and not
able to see the info on the screen, it's just
info at Thriving pink dot org. And the website for
this local driving pink is Thriving Pink dot org or
I guess that maybe that takes you to the National Anyway,
(42:59):
it's a beautiful website also, and all the things that
you have mentioned are on the website, which is very
well done and easy to navigate and encouraging people to
check it out or point it out to friends and
family who may need it and appreciate the statistics on
denise one out of eight women. Yeah, and so yeah,
(43:20):
we all have people in our lives one way or
another we will need this information.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Do we have one question that I've gotten from time
to time in my outreach capability that I think is
also a really important connection to community is people have said,
what if I have a genetic predisposition that's going to
very likely lead me down the path to a double
mass tectomy to avoid that, is there a role for
(43:49):
me at Thriving Pink And the answer is, of course,
if people have people in their friend group or their
family group that are trans men, we have a space
for them. Anyone who's been affected, and that may be
anyone who's trying to prevent being affected in the future
(44:10):
by taking fairly radical measures, there's a place for them here.
So it's beyond that very finite yes, I had a
lump back to me. So I'm part of the club.
Our club is bigger than that.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Well, thank you for mentioning that. That definitely helps the
broaden the community and help helps people will not be
afraid to like contact it. You won't be you will
be wasting people's time. You'll just be making a connection
and learning something that will be valuable.
Speaker 5 (44:43):
We can we can put more place settings at the table.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
So it's wonderful. We just have like a couple more minutes.
Does either one of you want to say or both
of you want to say like a closing thought? Too many?
Speaker 5 (44:56):
Mine is mine? Is the outreach thing again, if you
if the spirit moves you to get involved in what
we're doing, even if breast cancer hasn't affected your life yet,
get involved, reach out to ask ask us what you
can do to help. We'd love it.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Thank you. You make it so inviting and a feeling.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Benise, Yeah, there's there's actually two things that popped into
my mind. That one is a quote from mister Rogers.
You know, for everyone who's out there maybe not connected
in with support, and he said he always encourage children
and adults to look for the helpers. So look for
(45:38):
the helpers and writing and Pink is definitely one of
those very big helpers out there for you. And then
to have a second or a minute, there's a thirty seconds.
Oh a mantra, just a mantra for everyone who might
need it to say I am strong, I have the
ability to cope with whatever comes my way. I am
(45:59):
not a Hello.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Thank you, thank you both, Gosh, look for the helpers.
Thriving Pink is a huge helper. I'm so grateful to you,
Liz and Denise. I want to also mention if you're
around and Yolo Kalny we have there is going to
be a walk this Saturday, October fourth at north Star Pond.
I think it's on Anderson If you get there, nine
(46:24):
fifty starts to end anyone any ability at your own pace.
It's just another way to get together and support and
smile and connect. That's in Davis North Star Pond ten
o'clock walk. And I just got to thank you both
again so much. Thank you, Diving Pink, thank you Leslie Hunter,
thank you for the listeners, to the listeners and the
(46:45):
viewers for sharing this information. Thank you our engineer Rebel
and our producer Dean, and please tune in next Wednesday
at APM to talk for TV or W fourcy dot com,
and may we all have enriching conversation and diversity this week.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Girl Let's speech, an Logic, Let's Speech of the Elergic,
girl Let's speech, Enlogic, girl Let's Pitch All the Elogic,
girl Let's Pitch Elogic, girl Let's Pitch of the
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements radio show, programs, services, or
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four c
Y Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or
comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you
(00:20):
for choosing W four c Y Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
LOCHI, Let's speech Chick, Let's speak show in lot, Let's
breech in lot, Let's breach all the ill logic, that's
(00:47):
brich and logic.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Let's all a lot. Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice,
the show that hosts enriching conversations in diversity. My name
is Bihia Yaxon. I am a core alignment coach and
a diversity educator. If you're interested in seeing some programs
(01:11):
and trainings I offer, you can check them out at
my website, which is Know what you Want Coaching dot
WordPress dot com. I'm so excited that we are going
to talk about the national Breast Cancer Awareness Month today
October first, and I'm very grateful. We have two guests.
Possibly we might have a third guest who shows up,
(01:33):
and they have a lot to share and some really
really good information that you might also want to share.
I'm going to read their bios and then they'll be
joining me. So we're going to start with Denise Rose.
She's an almost ten year breast cancer thriver in the
chair of the local Board of Directors for Thriving Pink.
(01:54):
She feels it's a great honor to work with and
support the board and serving the mission of Thriving Pink.
Denise is also an ICF certified life coach in private
practice and works as a mental health coach for Modern Health.
Prior to coaching, she worked at Yolo Cares, which is
at Yolo Hospice for nearly two decades as a breement
(02:14):
counselor and in management and organizational leadership. Wow. Thank you, Denise.
And our other guest is Liz Stalo and I hope
I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
And Liz is the co chair of the Outreach Committee
for Thriving Pink. She had a twenty nineteen breast cancer diagnosis.
(02:35):
She is a veterinarian with a specialty in behavior and
teaches at UC Davis Vet School. Thank you, Liz, I
appreciate both of you being here. Let's start our conversation,
and again, I'm just really honored to have you both.
I am deeply moved by what I've learned through Thriving
Pink at our local place, and I love learning more.
(02:59):
We thought we start with Denise too. Could you give
us like an overview of Thriving Pink.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Sure, And first of all, thank you so much for
he for reaching out to us and thinking of this,
because this is a big month for those with breast cancer.
So yeah, happy, lots of information to share. Dragging Pink
is a wonderful nonprofit. I call it a small but
mighty nonprofit. We are here to serve breast cancer survivors
(03:27):
from the time of diagnosis through survivorship, so through the
whole journey, and we have programs that are there to
support them at any point in that journey. We are
heavily volunteer powered. We do have an executive director and
a part time support person, but we do a lot
(03:49):
of work and we rely on the great skills and
talents of a diverse team of volunteers. Dreading Pink has
been around since twenty sixty and we have an office
in downtown Davis. We do we have so many wonderful programs.
I think before I share you a little share a
(04:10):
little bit about that, I want to kind of give
honor and gratitude toward our founder, Mary Lou. That's two words,
Mary and Lou l i U. Mary Lou had a
vision after a dear friend of hers, anne, Mary Page,
who had been a champion, a breast cancer survivor and
(04:30):
champion of others, after she died, Mary Lou wanted to
continue on the story and legacy a van Mary Page,
and soon after that began Thripening Pink. So it really
is to the the effort, the generosity, the vision of
Mary Lou, who then brought in Leslie Hunter, our executive director,
(04:54):
to really just grow the organization and the two worked
beautifully to bring it to what it is now and
with the contribution of so many talented people over the
past almost decade, it is an amazing organization and strong,
beautiful garden that I like to refer to. We plant
good seats here. So just a little bit about would
(05:19):
you like me to go through the different programs we
have at this point or what would be.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Can we live?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Why would be?
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Okay? So we have, Like I said, we have a
number of programs, and first off, a couple of things.
You know, what are we all about? What's our mission?
We are here to support anyone in Yolo County and
we support people around us as well in the surrounding counties,
but Yolo County who have been impacted by breast cancer.
We provide programs and services in partnership with the community,
(05:52):
and so our vision is that no one will go
through breast cancer alone, and that's so important to do that.
We have a whole array of amazing services. So I
have my list because try and keep them all straight.
One of the first things that I want to share
is about our financial grants that we offer to Yellow
(06:13):
County residents and those treated in Yolo County. Over the
past eight years, Thriving Pink has given out over three
hundred thousand dollars to individuals to support them. In this
past year, we gave out fifty four, four hundred and
forty dollars to twenty nine recipients. So this is important
(06:34):
because not only is there a physical toll to cancer,
there is an emotional toll. There is all different levels
of impact on individuals. And the financial impact can be
great for individuals loss of time at work, medical copays,
maybe need for childcare if you've got young ones, transportation needs,
(06:57):
rent support if you're not getting a paycheck. So there's
a lot of financial impact and so our financial resources
that we get out is really important. We have other
really important support, as I said, from diagnosis through survivorship.
We have peer mentoring and that is done by trained
peer mentors that are paired up with newly diagnosed individuals.
(07:19):
We have bi monthly Zoom educational workshops that address medical
as well and well being type topics by experts in
the field. We have a wonderful Prosperosa program for the
Latina speakers in our community Spanish speakers excuse me in
our community, and we have a number of programs, gatherings, walks,
(07:42):
cafecitos that really reach out to that community and support them.
We do have monthly walks in local parks in Davis
to get people out in nature, enjoy movement and build
connection and socialization. We have an annual Renewal retreat, which
I justilitated this past weekend and it really is a
(08:03):
beautiful weekend, two days of really focusing in on self care,
tending to your mind, body, spirit and emotions as you heal.
We have Thriver's Circles, and those circles are like support groups,
so we have three different ones. Currently, we have an
active one for those who are actively in treatment, those
(08:24):
who are just completed treatment, maybe not even just complete it,
it could be some time out from treatment, but your
post treatment basically. And then we have one for those
who are living with metastatic disease, and soon we'll be
adding in a Thrivers Circle for our Spanish speaking population.
We have different in person workshops and activities such as
(08:45):
sound baths, mindfulness meditation, yoga, expressive arts, healing arts, opportunities
for teams to gather and to become active, to make
community items or items to distribute to the king needed
like bracelets, and so it may be teams who have
a parent, mother going through treatment, or may know someone
(09:08):
or just want to be active in helping. So that's
kind of it in a nutshell of our programs again,
a diverse assortment so that people can find some way
some that they want to join in. We also have
just two other things, and Liz will go into since
she covers the outreach, the wonderful outreach and education that
we do. But we also have at our community room
(09:32):
or office in downtown Davis a wonderful space for people
to gather for our in person support services. We have
a beautiful lending library, many many books in our library.
We have a whole assortment of no constantly used clothes, garments,
bras wigs, and we often set up once to one
(09:52):
to two times a year like a boutique for people
to come in. But we do have these if someone
wanted to contact us and find out more so, I
think that I've been talking a long time now.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well before we pass it over to Liz, I just
have to say, it's unbelievable how much Thriving Pink has offered.
That's an incredibly impressive array of services and objects that
people might need, and grants and partnerships and mentoring. It's
(10:24):
just phenomenal. I can't believe it's only nine years old.
It's incredible. I know I.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Agree that the work many people have been involved and
growing it to this point and a lot of talent
and big hearts involved.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
So yes, thank you, so impressive. Thank you, Liz. Tell
us about the outreach and what else is on your mind.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Of course, So from an outreach perspective, one of the
things I like to highlight about Thriving Pink builds on
something Denise said. We want to support anyone who's had
the impact of a diagnos of breast cancer. That means friends, family,
and others who can be invisible in some ways in
(11:09):
the impact that they experience by a diagnosis, and they
all have opportunities to take part in the things that
Thriving Pink offers. And so I like to think of
us as a community, and communities have that core group
(11:31):
of the people who are most immediately affected, but it
goes beyond that into friends and family, and then it
goes further beyond that into our overall and that's where
outreach comes in. So outreach for us is about making
sure that the Davis Winter's Woodland West Sacramento, Yolo County
(11:54):
understands what opportunities are going on in their neighborhood and
in there happening ways that they can take part in
supporting thrivers ways that they can get more information. Some
of the information we provide are to help people get
early diagnoses and maybe even some preventative measures for the
(12:20):
very young among us. So what health fares will we
be at and what tabling events can you come and
have conversations with us? And where will we be presenting
at community organizations? The latest information that we have. The
(12:42):
science keeps changing, and we like to think we can
at least direct people to the folks who have the
latest data. And part of that bi monthly webinar that
we do is the latest information who've just come from
the national conferences, who can say, guess what, here's what
(13:05):
we're finding out we can add to this type of treatment.
And that's all really exciting, and we get excited about
being able to bring that to the people who want
or need that information. The nature of breast cancer treatment
has changed so so much. So many of us are
(13:25):
around to tell our stories because the treatments are so impressive,
and that's what the outreach piece of it is all about.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Wow, that's so inspiring and encouraging. And again I have
to just say how impressed I am. But twice a
month of webinars that make sure that the latest scientific
information about whether it's treatment or diagnoses, you make available
twice a month.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
We have connections with some pretty amazing and experts the
other half, so that's half of our webinars. The other
half focus on holistic care, so on things like meditation
or other types of body healing, because the you know,
(14:18):
some of us have had our breasts try to kill us,
but the rest of our body was affected as well,
and so those talks are of a different nature what
other parts of your body need assistance right now. And
they are also for people who've just been diagnosed, or
(14:39):
have gone through treatment, or are ten years out from treatment,
who are still being affected by the changes that treatment left.
So I get super excited to see what new talks
we're going to have that treat the rest of the body.
I like hearing about the latest and greatest about breast
(15:01):
cancer treatment, but I also want to know how to
take care of the other types of health that make
life worth living, because we didn't thrive except to have
a life that's worth living.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
I'd love to add in a little bit to what
Liz just said about the bi monthly online workshops. There's
a really add it special part to it. When it's
the presentation is over, there is a support period. It's
probably usually depending on the length of the Q and A,
it might be like thirty minutes where those where the
(15:38):
attendees can check in and just share how they're doing.
And it's just lovely. It's really lovely. It's facilitated by
our executive director and she does a beautiful job with it,
and it's kind of a place just like you're sitting
in the living room just checking in how you do
and how's it been, how did your radiation treatment go?
I know you were starting that last time we met.
(15:59):
You know, how's your medication? You know, and everyone's checking
in with each other. So it is really a lovely
at its support kind of to two gifts of information
and support in that one and a half hours twice
a month.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
And it builds that feeling of community that we're striving
so hard to build when is in this alone.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I was just going to say that that community
and the connections. Yeah, they talk about healing. I mean
that's it keeps you wanting to stay alive. The more
connected are, where you feel in community and surrounded by community.
It's just a beautiful like service, but not like a
(16:45):
service for others, but just a service for humanity to
create opportunities to connect and help each other feel how
much we belong.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Right, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's scary. It's so scary to
get a diagnose as it absolutely is. Your world gets
flipped around completely. You know, you're you're thrown in to
a situation where you're having to make absolutely rapid fire decisions.
It's you know, just flips your life around and then
(17:17):
you're going through the treatments and whatever. Everyone every I
think it's important for people to understand breast cancer looks
different from person to person. There's no just one side
this is breast cancer. There's different types of breast cancers,
there's different types of treatments that people will go through.
So it's we always say, don't compare your breast cancer
stories with each other. There may be some that line
(17:38):
up and are kind of similar, but all in all,
when you're in conversation, it can be a very different thing.
It can be something where we want to talk, we
want to compare because we want to find someone to help,
you know, to bond with. And that's something to be
mindful of because we can also start going into doubt
and questioning of ourselves of you know, why am I
(18:03):
not doing that? Well, maybe a very valid and important
reason why you're not having that medication or that treatment now.
So we always like to direct people back to their
care providers if they if they have questions or concerns
about what's going on for them. But we do live,
and I think, Liz, you you make this point, we
(18:23):
were living in a good time to have breast cancer,
you know, if you can, and you know, it's unfortunate
that this disease still exists, But there's a lot of
good news because there are better treatments. We are successful
with earlier detection now better outcomes of treatments. If you
have an early detection, there's a ninety nine percent five
(18:47):
year survival rate. That's excellent. We know there are some
things it can be scary, but it's also an opportunity
for empowerment. So ten percent of breast cancers are hereditary
due to hereditary factors. Ninety percent are due to factors
beyond that, so a whole host of what if or
(19:09):
you know, environmental factors, different things. So what that says, well,
that can feel scary, but it can also mean that
what we need to do is get to work on
controlling what we can control, and you know, exercising, exercising
agency over our bodies and our lives, taking care to
(19:30):
get daily movement, trying to work to reduce stress when
you you know, stress is a normal part of life,
but where can we reduce some of it? How can
we change our relationship to the stress? Eating well, How
can we up our gain in terms of how we're eating,
the quality of foods we're eating. How can we ensure
we're getting rest and good sleep. How can we make
(19:53):
sure that we're taking time to relax. We live in
a very busy world these days. Can we relax and
enjoy life a little bit more? How can we tune
into what brings us peace? Trying to get ourselves a
little more centered. So that's you know, there's a lot
that we can do and to feel empowered about that
(20:13):
is so important because when we look at stories of
people who teach about wellness and people who have been
through their own disease journeys, there's often four components that
are looked at. And this is what I cover a
lot in the Renewal Retreat, is that we want to
look at ourselves physically, that dimension of ourselves mentally, emotionally,
(20:36):
and spiritually, and that can be a template of framework
in which to use as you go through the journey
to take care of ourselves, to check in with those
things the heart. Is it okay that I share one
more thing? If a few statistics I wanted to share.
This is an important conversation we're having, really important, and
(20:58):
numbers will help us understand why. So one in eight
women and one in eight hundred and thirty men, so
men get breast cancer as well, they have breast tissue.
One in eight women one in eight hundred and thirty
men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
That pretty much guarantees that everyone's going to know someone
who's been diagnosed with breast cancer. Bringing it home to
(21:21):
us in Yolo County. An even more significant statistic, and
that is that Yolo County ranks fifth in California with
the highest age adjusted breast cancer incidence rate. And from
what I've information I have, it's first in late stage
cancer incidents. That's you know, that's kind of unsettling.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So can you and I can't any more than that,
but I just the age age adjusted. Did you say that?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
And the last statistic, Yeah, Liz, maybe you can help
me with that part because I was that was it
was a statistic I was I had pulled up, but
it didn't have an explanation for that.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
So yeah, I'm not familiar with the research on that.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, so I don't know exactly what if it's looking
at the population that you would expect to have, and
I'm not sure about that part of it. So I
research on that, but that is, that's an important number
to look at for us, not to be driven by fear,
but again to be driven by action and empowerment so
(22:32):
that we can do things like get our screenings of
regular physicals, get access to healthcare, and that's a battle
for so many people. You know, not dismissing any signs,
any unusual things that you're seeing in your skin, or
any lumps or any texture changes, so taking action, being alert,
(22:57):
having surveillance is regular over your body.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
And also knowing your body, because you don't notice changes
unless you know what's normal. And I think in general,
we take our bodies so much for granted. They're the
things that get done, the things that need to get
done right, that's how we use them. And I think
(23:23):
people overlook the necessity to get to know what's absolutely
normal for them. Some people are really good at that,
and some people are just too busy. If you can't say, oh,
this is really strange, this just started, I don't like
the look of it. I should get it checked out.
(23:44):
Then you may not be one of the people who
gets an early diagnosis.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Oh that's such a great point and so well said.
You know, I want to just repeat some of the
things you just said that, like it's important to know
our bodies and therefore recognize when something's different or something's changed.
And I also appreciate how you said we just we
use our bodies in this kind of busy mainstream society
(24:12):
or constantly. Now I got to do this da da
da da, instead like as an instrument, as a tool,
rather than like something to enjoy and appreciate and relax.
I want to ask you, I want to come back
to you in the minute was about some other things
you said, But that reminds me that something you that
you might want to talk about, Denise, speaking of bodies
(24:33):
and recognizing things. You mentioned how a dimple saved your life.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Yeah, yeah, I like to look at it. Y. Yeah, absolutely,
I was thinking this would be a good time to
share that. So in twenty sixteen, I was diagnosed with
lobular breast cancer. And lobular is a type of invasive
breast cancer that originates in the lobules, which are the
milk producing glands in the rest. And it's the second
(25:02):
most common type of investive invasive breast cancer and accounts
for about ten to fifteen percent of cases. So it
kind of grows, the cells grow like in single single
lines and kind of infiltrate so they don't show up
as a lump. So anyway back to it was at
(25:24):
the very end of twenty fifteen and I had noticed
after showering and it happened to just catch an angle
in the mirror or a view in the mirror, a
dimpling in my right breast, and I was like, I
don't remember seeing that before. So I kind of watched
it for a week and then I think I'm going
to check in with my doctor. So I went in
(25:46):
and she did a manual exam and didn't feel anything,
but she ordered a three D mammogram for me. I
had just had a mammogram six months before so she
ordered three D mammogram and that happened to them shortly.
I think after that, I went and had an ultrasound
and it was during the ultrasound that they found a
(26:08):
slight finding. And then I came back and they did
a biopsy and that's when it was confirmed, and then
an MRI. So it was it was really yeah, absolutely shocking,
And you know, I want to tell people this, it's
so important because I had had one and I knew nothing.
(26:30):
You know, until you get breast cancer, or unless you
know someone who's had it, you don't even know this
world of all the different types of breast cancers and
all the factors and such. So my take home and
my plea to everyone, there is such good effort and
education to get everyone to do their manual exams a
lot of times, and a lot of materials using your
(26:52):
eyes as never mentioned in terms of noticing skin changes.
Some materials will say that, but a lot of it's
you know, feel your do your exam monthly, So please
use your eyes in addition to your hands to do
your monthly surveillance. Sometimes women have heard women talk about
they notice the symptom they notice is like drainage from
(27:13):
the nipple. There could be discoloration of the skin, dimpling
of the skin, So things like that, those are signs
that should be checked out. Don't dismiss it. It's better
to get it checked out and have it be no
no problem at all. It's minor than dismissing it. And
it continues to grow, and you've lost some time in
being able to get that treatment. As Liz said, on
(27:34):
the early side.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So important. I hope everyone can hear this what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I'd like to second that because my breast cancer origin
story sounds remarkably similar. In twenty nineteen, I had had
a mammogram six months before all clear, and I noticed
dimpling too and said, well, that wasn't there. And I
doctor and he said, I'm sending you for an ultrasound.
(28:04):
And mine was invasive ductal carcinoma. So mine did form
a mass effect, but it hadn't been seen on the
mammogram and it was almost certainly there during the mammogram,
but an ultrasound found it, they did a biopsy confirmed it,
and I was on my way. But the exact same
thing that it didn't used to look like that. That's
(28:25):
weird and the next thing I know, I'm scheduling surgery.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Wow, thank god you both followed your instinct. Yes, you're gout,
you're gut because it is so easy for us to
dismiss things because because we're scared, because we don't want
to handle it, because we can't think of a who
do I say this too, because it's like, oh, I
don't want to bother anybody or make appointments, or thank
god you both did that and that you're modeling it.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Trust me. I didn't want to know, but pragmatically knowing
is better than not knowing. So but I didn't want
to know. This wasn't a journey I was interested in taking.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
It's not a club you want to join, not a club.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
You want to join, but it's a big one.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It's a lot, it's a big lots of good support
if you do, you know, if it is such that
you do join the club, and especially around here and
no matter where you live. I don't know how far
this broadcast goes out where it's it's podcasts that's probably
heard all over. Look at your local resources. There are
also national organizations like Breast cancer dot org. If you
(29:30):
don't have anything in your community, that has support groups
and all kinds of amazing information. So again back to
if you get this this is death that you know,
it used to be that, Oh my god, breast cancer
is a death sentence. It's not that way anymore. Even
if someone is diagnosed with late stage, the immunotherapy treatments
(29:52):
that are being done are remarkable. It's amazing people are
living longer with metastatic disease and having quality of life.
So it's you know, we're actually, you know, we're in
a good time to be to have this, and there's
lots of support out there.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Ye, so encouraging. I want to go back to, yeah,
something you when you refer to every other week with
Thriving Pink webinars that are about healing. I don't know
if you called it holistic healing, I think because I'm
sure all three of us can remember when that was
(30:32):
considered like just ignored, like holistic or things to like
relax and relieve or trust your instincts. And despite the
fact that there was you know, centuries of evidence how
much it helped human beings when they paid attention to
their body, tuned in, stepped out in nature. But I
(30:53):
wanted to see if you wanted to say more about
holistic healing and not only like how powerful it is,
but maybe some examples so that people can imagine or
picture how that might work. What kind of modules there are.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Yeah, So I sort of find it in two different categories.
One is the mental part, so taking care of the
emotions and the brains, so the imagery around what you're
going through. So that's stress reduction, whether that's yoga or
(31:36):
sound healing or any number of other things. Practitioners come
on and talk about the kind of work that they do,
lead us through an exercise, perhaps show us where other
resources exist to carry on with those ourselves. Those can
be so impactful for people who have found themselves even
(32:01):
periodically in a terribly stressful place or a terribly dark place.
Are communities there for them, but sometimes they need to
take care of themselves too, And so some of those
exercises if you can calm yourself enough to do them
in the moment. So during those times, we highly recommend
(32:24):
close the door, block everything out, take this hour for you,
whether the world around you wants you to or not,
you deserve it. And then once you get a taste
of it, can you devote a practice to this or
can you go see a practitioner that engages in this
kind of therapy if it's something that resonates with you,
(32:47):
And that's really the key, right it has to resonate
with you for you to want to do it. It
has to fill a knee you feel you have. And
I have found those to be fascinating. Only a couple
of them really resonated with me, but I found them
all to be fascinating. I continue to the other piece
of it is what are there elements what other physical
(33:10):
elements of your body get affected by the surgery you had? So,
do you have lymphedema because the lymph nodes that were
removed left you predisposed to poor lymphatic draining. Are you
on medications that put you through the worst kind of menopause?
And do you have reproductive health issues that come from that?
(33:34):
Most menopausal women, turns out, have reproductive and sexual health issues.
So we've had people come in and talk to us
about the regions of your body that tend to deteriorate
without estrogen and what you can do about those areas
of your body to live a fuller life. What about
(33:57):
aches and pains that come from I mean wounds, what about?
What about? What about? So some of them are directed
toward the mental and emotional health, and some are directed
towards those other body parts that also you never dreamed
were associated with breast cancer, because breast cancer is about
(34:18):
taking something out of your breast, right. Oh, but that's
so not all. Thank you. Those have been really very interesting.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Sounds like an incredibly, incredibly important part of educating ourselves
and we're just the power of knowledge. You can deal
with it exactly.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
And the also you know, just taking on too that
with what Liz said, just telling you know, some of
the workshops, the wellness part of it is focused on emotions.
There are so many emotions that are so powerful. The fear,
fear of recurrence, the uncertainty that is there, the you know,
(35:03):
the unknowns, anxiety, depression, there's you know, some for some people,
maybe shame. You know, everyone's going to have a different
constellation of emotions they're dealing with, and just to understand
they're all normal, they're all to be expected, and if
they are impacting you so much that they're impacting the
(35:23):
functioning and your functioning in your daily life, then it's
important to really bring that up. To your care provider,
to your oncologist, your care team. There might be medications
that you might try to see if that helps. And
there's no shame in using medication to get through a
really difficult time with anxiety and depression or sleeplessness, and
(35:46):
in the worries you know only you, only the individual
knows what they're going through in their minds, and to
get in touch with that and to reach out for
help is really important when it's necessary.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Thank you and Denise. I wanted you to say more
about the retreat because when Liz is talking about different
options and ways and finding modality that like resonates, whether
it's meditation or yoga or something else, I know your
retreat sounds really incredible. I had the opportunity to hear
(36:20):
you describe it's no ordinary retreat. I feel like what
you lead is helps people love themselves more like that
the aspect of like, oh, I have to really love
myself to find the kind of things that Liz is describing,
see what resonates for me. I have to care enough
about myself. It's one thing to have no that's an option,
(36:43):
it's another thing to say I deserve it. I want
to I'm going to make time. I'm going to do it.
So can you share something about how you cultivate that
when you when you have such situation like the retreats
you lead.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Yeah, yeah, thank you, great question. I think that you know,
first off, like you said, it just to acknowledge. With
the women who choose to participate in the treatment, it's
a small group. It's usually eight to ten individuals that
come together for the two days. It takes a lot
of courage to even sign up to do something like that.
A lot of people, you know, we'll reach out and say, hey,
(37:16):
we're going to have our retreat now, I'm good, I'm
really good. It's in the rearview mirror. Don't want it.
That's okay, No, that is totally okay. But there were
you know, some individuals find they need to come into
a place, in a space that really fosters this. And
so what we try and do and I think we
do well with this retreat. We think we thought everything
(37:37):
through very very carefully. This is a lot of many
different elements of building connection with other thrivers. A lot
of times people don't know each other, or maybe they
know one other person, so a lot of time to
you know, socialize sharing meals together morning. The first day
they have a little light breakfast together and lunch and dinner.
(37:59):
And the second day it's a light breakfast and then lunch.
So you have that that kind of socializing that way informally.
And then we go into sessions that I read we
have four different focuses, two sessions each day, and as
I mentioned before, the first one I focus on the
physical nature of our being and what does that look
(38:21):
like for each person and we talk about that. They
have journals and they have some sheets that they work
on about getting in touch with their physical selves and
what their needs are around that. And then the afternoon
we focus in on this spiritual dimension. So we look
at you know, what what does this mean for me?
Is this? Is there more that I need to do?
(38:43):
Is there? You know? How is it? It's like a
little assessment and there's information that's given to help kind
of fill this context in. After that session, they go
into a lovely, lovely portion three hour portion of the
afternoon that we call the spa session spas and so
they are treated to mini facials and foot massages, foot
(39:05):
and calf massages, and they have special robes and they're pampered,
and they have time too. There's a collaging activity that
they do that came from came out of the spiritual segment.
So they're collaging reflecting on their life and what's important
for them, and they have time to just rest. If
(39:26):
they want to take a nap, they can. Some people
are just exhausted and just to have a nap on
a Saturday, it's a lovely treat. They can a few
other little activities they can do quite a time basically,
and people really savor that because it's again we're in
a busy world. Sometimes we just don't give this to ourselves,
so we give it to them. And so that's the Saturday,
(39:49):
and we end with our dinner and then sharing of
our collages. And then Sunday we have the two sessions
and that focuses on the mental aspect of ourselves and
the emotional aspect. So we do again different activities related
to that, little meditations before we start each of those sections.
So it's like tool like a toolbox is given to
(40:11):
each person. And as was said before, it really is
about them figuring out what resonates for them. You know,
different things are going to speak to different people in
different ways, and so it really is that opportunity and
so you know, and it's not just like you have
to come to the retreat. This retreat is to get this.
There are different ways. Pieces of this are definitely given
(40:33):
in the different workshops we offer. So it's for some
people a retreat isn't isn't their jam, you know, and
that's okay. They would rather go to online things. So
again in our program, I mean, we really try and
have a diverse assortment of ways for people to connect.
Some people love you know, I just want to be
(40:54):
out walking. I want to be moving. I want to
connect via nature with other people. So our walks are
right for that. So I guess something, yeah, something, you
know something for everyone.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Well, thank you for walking us through that, and yeah,
that's wonderful to be pampered. Certainly can create a feeling
of like, wow, I didn't know such a relief and
relaxation where possible.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Yeah, absolutely, And in the beauty of sharing meals together
with people, you know, where you get into the level
of conversations just getting to learn about each other's lives
and and you get to rise above you know, you
have the commonality that everyone around this table has or
had breast cancer. But you're now moving to a level of,
(41:43):
you know, really integrating, interrelating with people and building a
really good bond based on that commonality. It's really beautiful,
beautiful to see.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
That's so important to have pure support, yeah, in a
way that no one else can provide despite how much
they try, went too, and I love that you also
mentioned that that's all an incredible opportunity if someone gets
to do something like a retreat, but it's available in
other ways, in the examples that Liz was describing, it
(42:14):
can get pieces and parts of it, whether it's joining
walks or going to catching it one of the zooms
or every other zoom or And I just want to
give the contact email right now. I know you mentioned
Leslie Hunter as the executive director. She's so approachable, she's
so supportive and so informative. And her email to contact
(42:37):
her is info at Thrivingpink dot org. And I'll just
say that again for people who are listening and not
able to see the info on the screen, it's just
info at Thriving pink dot org. And the website for
this local driving pink is Thriving Pink dot org or
I guess that maybe that takes you to the National Anyway,
(42:59):
it's a beautiful website also, and all the things that
you have mentioned are on the website, which is very
well done and easy to navigate and encouraging people to
check it out or point it out to friends and
family who may need it and appreciate the statistics on
denise one out of eight women. Yeah, and so yeah,
(43:20):
we all have people in our lives one way or
another we will need this information.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Do we have one question that I've gotten from time
to time in my outreach capability that I think is
also a really important connection to community is people have said,
what if I have a genetic predisposition that's going to
very likely lead me down the path to a double
mass tectomy to avoid that, is there a role for
(43:49):
me at Thriving Pink And the answer is, of course,
if people have people in their friend group or their
family group that are trans men, we have a space
for them. Anyone who's been affected, and that may be
anyone who's trying to prevent being affected in the future
(44:10):
by taking fairly radical measures, there's a place for them here.
So it's beyond that very finite yes, I had a
lump back to me. So I'm part of the club.
Our club is bigger than that.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Well, thank you for mentioning that. That definitely helps the
broaden the community and help helps people will not be
afraid to like contact it. You won't be you will
be wasting people's time. You'll just be making a connection
and learning something that will be valuable.
Speaker 5 (44:43):
We can we can put more place settings at the table.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
So it's wonderful. We just have like a couple more minutes.
Does either one of you want to say or both
of you want to say like a closing thought? Too many?
Speaker 5 (44:56):
Mine is mine? Is the outreach thing again, if you
if the spirit moves you to get involved in what
we're doing, even if breast cancer hasn't affected your life yet,
get involved, reach out to ask ask us what you
can do to help. We'd love it.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Thank you. You make it so inviting and a feeling.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Benise, Yeah, there's there's actually two things that popped into
my mind. That one is a quote from mister Rogers.
You know, for everyone who's out there maybe not connected
in with support, and he said he always encourage children
and adults to look for the helpers. So look for
(45:38):
the helpers and writing and Pink is definitely one of
those very big helpers out there for you. And then
to have a second or a minute, there's a thirty seconds.
Oh a mantra, just a mantra for everyone who might
need it to say I am strong, I have the
ability to cope with whatever comes my way. I am
(45:59):
not a Hello.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Thank you, thank you both, Gosh, look for the helpers.
Thriving Pink is a huge helper. I'm so grateful to you,
Liz and Denise. I want to also mention if you're
around and Yolo Kalny we have there is going to
be a walk this Saturday, October fourth at north Star Pond.
I think it's on Anderson If you get there, nine
(46:24):
fifty starts to end anyone any ability at your own pace.
It's just another way to get together and support and
smile and connect. That's in Davis North Star Pond ten
o'clock walk. And I just got to thank you both
again so much. Thank you, Diving Pink, thank you Leslie Hunter,
thank you for the listeners, to the listeners and the
(46:45):
viewers for sharing this information. Thank you our engineer Rebel
and our producer Dean, and please tune in next Wednesday
at APM to talk for TV or W fourcy dot com,
and may we all have enriching conversation and diversity this week.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Girl Let's speech, an Logic, Let's Speech of the Elergic,
girl Let's speech, Enlogic, girl Let's Pitch All the Elogic,
girl Let's Pitch Elogic, girl Let's Pitch of the
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